Please Pray for Australia

"Multiple very dangerous, very powerful fires can be seen across NENSW with some intensifying over SEQLD. The smoke plumes are some of the largest Ive ever seen for Australia with some of the plumes pushing as far as 600-700km from their point of origin!" - Higgins Storm Chasing. Photo: RMMB/CIRA

Psalm 145:8-9 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. 

I don't usually use this blog to ask specific prayer requests, as my long time readers will know. However, I have decided to ask for prayer about the terrible bushfires in Australia. As some of you know, we have family and friends in Australia, and some of them live in areas that could be threatened by fires. But, I'm burdened about the seriousness of the situation there in general, not just from a personal interest. I realize California also needs prayer, so I mention it in passing, but in Australia they are literally running out of manpower to control the situation. Their firefighters have also been working hard for some time now.

We had already been praying for rain for our family and others there for some time. Many people in Queensland get their water from collection systems and they are completely dependent on rain fall for their water. In extremities they may order water brought in with a truck, but this is an expense and also there may be a wait period since so many people are ordering water at present. With the fires burning wildly in some areas this poses an even more serious problem as water tanks of local people may be empty or nearly so and wells (boreholes) may be few and far between.

My sister-in-law wrote:

"Queensland and NSW [New South Wales] are suffering terribly under extremely dry (tinder-box) conditions with incredibly bad bushfires destroying people's properties - fire-fighters are stretched so thin that some fires aren't being managed at all because there's not enough people to take care of it all - residents are being ignored and left without help because there is no help to be had.  We are in such desperate need of rain.  Please, please pray... 

The forecast is for more winds coming up over the next week (we've been having a lot of burning hot, windy weather already).  Conditions are ripe for more fires."

If you are on Facebook you can go here to read about this dire situation: https://www.facebook.com/HigginsStormChasing/ Among many other amazing and tragic things, there is a story of one town that has been 80% destroyed! Some people have literally escaped with the clothes on their backs and nothing else. [There have been requests for donations, but please use good judgment and do some research before you do something like that. I don't know anything about the people involved or whether they are to be trusted.]

I know there are Christians in these areas. My own family members live in Queensland and they have other Christian friends and family around a large-ish area.

Please keep this situation in prayer and also pray for rain for the affected areas. I especially would ask prayer for the testimonies of the believers there who have opportunity to minister to others through these terrible events. Pray that precious souls will be brought into the fold through this.

Psalm 117:1-2 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD. 

Australian Memories - A Beautiful Vine

More memories from our Australian Adventure (2013).  The Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt. Coot-tha.

Australian Memories - More of the Botanic Garden at Mt. Coot-tha

Three years ago this week we left on our Great Australian Adventure.  Here are some more memories from that.  The Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt. Coot-tha.

Psalms 23:1-2 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Australian Memories - Purple Something

It's time to visit the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha again.  More photos from our trip to Australia in 2013 (and yes, I do have a lot!). :-)  These little beauties remind me of an orchid a little.  I don't know what they are.

Australian Memories - Shade and Light

Taken at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha. 2013

Papyrus?

Cocoa tree

Bamboo

Australian Memories - Spotted

Taken at Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha. 2013

Australian Memories – Lobster Claw Flowers

I believe these to be lobster claw flowers.  Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha.  2013

Australian Memories - Cocoa Tree

An interesting sight at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt. Coot-tha was the cocoa tree.  This was inside a glasshouse (green house).  We visited Australia in 2013.

Australian Memories - Fern Trees

I believe that these trees are a type of fern trees.  We saw them in the tropical rain forest section of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha when we visited Australia in 2013.

Australian Memories - Black Bamboo

One of my favorite displays in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha which we visited when we were Australia in 2013, was the black bamboo.  I'd see this for sale in a catalog here in the States for rather high price for a rather small plant, so I found it really interesting to see this fantastic specimen.  It makes me think of ebony.

Australian Memories – Random Flowers

From our 2013 Australian Adventure.  Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha.

I think this aloe vera.

The two following pictures were taken in the tropical
plant glass house (greenhouse).

Random Thoughts On An Autumn Afternoon

 

Photo taken in Roane County Park, Tennessee, circa 2005.

I didn’t plan a particular post today, so I’m just going to ramble.  There is nothing quite so nice and chummy as a nice ramble through the Fall woods with a good friend talking and looking and breathing in the loveliness of the day and the smell of burning leaves. 

Since I can’t do that, I’ll do this instead –

This was taken two years ago shortly after we arrived in Australia, hence my somewhat disheveled look.

If I could be anywhere on earth this afternoon, I’d like to pop in at my brother and sister-in-law’s house in Australia for tea and a chat.  (I know all about the time difference, but this is just “what if”, so…)  It would be so much fun to see the things my niece and nephew are working on and talk to them about what they are learning.  It would be nice to sit down and talk with my brother and his wife about the things that are on my mind and about family news, to ask them how they are doing and what they are thinking about these days.

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I have thought more than once that I’m glad my husband isn’t particular about the house décor.  He never knows what he will find “decorating” this house when he comes home from work.  Maybe it will be a handful of bean pods laid in a fancy glass bowl to dry.  Maybe it will be a selection of fossils collected from the yard and put in a beautiful glass candy dish for display. There are dried leaves and other bits in several places, and it’s not uncommon to find paper towels with seeds spread on them to dry.  Today it will be a chicken skull that was picked up in the yard and added to the candy bowl till it can be passed on to some kids who will find it interesting.  I admit it’s kind of strange, but I’m glad my husband is OK with it. :-)

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Due to the lack of rain over the summer months, many areas here in Texas have had a very dry Fall and there have been wildfires.  They were asking people to remove dry plant material from around their houses to reduce the fire risk, so I have done a lot of raking and a little pruning.  We have quite a few trees that drop leaves around our house.  I think I’ve raked at least 14 piles of leaves so far.  My husband and I, with the help of my dad, removed 10+ of those piles on Saturday and put them in the garden where my dad can use them for mulch.  I was more out of shape than I thought, so I’ve been really tired between the exercise the the heat (which is, thankfully, reducing now).  I’m trying to keep on doing some yard work almost every day so that I will build back up instead of just aching! :-)  There is a good chance of rain this week, so I’m praying for rain here and in the worst hit areas.

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I read this today:

Jeremiah 39:15-18  Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.

I think sometimes we tend to get the idea that if our country is judged by God, or if the people around us are judged by God for some reason, that we will be judged too.  But, notice that in spite of the fact that he was afraid of the Babylonians, the Lord intended to deliver Ebedmelech because he trusted in Him.  Certainly Ebedmelech suffered due to the judgment that the others received and bad things may happen to us because of other people’s choices or persecution or judgment, but let’s not jump to the conclusion that if God’s judgment falls on a nation around us, that it will automatically destroy us also.  It is certainly food for thought.  How many other examples can you think of where God protected some while His judgment was falling on others around them?  Abraham said in Genesis 18:25,  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

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A short poem to end this ramble:

To live above
With those we love,
Oh, that will be glory;
To live below
With those we know,
Well, that’s another story.

- Author unknown

Australian Memory – Japanese Garden, Part 2

Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha. 2013

Australian Memories – Japanese Garden, Part 1

 

The Japanese garden at Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha.  2013

Psalms 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Australian Memories – Rosy Red

At the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha.  2013

Australian Memories – Prickly

 

From our trip to Australia in 2013.  Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha.

Australian Memories – Bamboo

 

Getting back to photos from our trip to Australia two years ago.  We took hundreds – and no, I’m not going to publish them all, but we saw some amazing things. :-)  The Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha again.

I included this last picture to give an idea of how tall some of the bamboo is; notice my dad and husband on the path.  That may be the giant bamboo on the right; I can’t remember any more.